Let's Play a Game
by Nessie Kiku
Summary: Seventeen years ago, ten former remnants of despair woke up from comas, and regained their hope. These ten students began working alongside the future foundation and began to rebuild. However, as they began to refill the world with hope, despair began to creep back. Sixteen new students are trapped in a killing game. This is a rewrite of Those Cold Hope Filled Eyes.
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes: Yes, I wasn't kidding. Please don't hate me. I apologize and I will do all of your characters justice this time around. Without further adieu, I present to you, 'Lets Play a Game'.

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**_Seventeen years ago, ten former remnants of despair woke up from comas, and regained their hope. These ten students began working alongside the future foundation and began to rebuild. However, as they began to refill the world with hope, despair began to creep back. People began living in refugee camps to escape the SDHSL despair. The future foundation developed a program to allow the talented youth of the world to go to a place much like the old Kibougamine, in the sense that they would perfect their talents and become symbols of hope for all. However, this place would be strictly under Future foundation watch, 24/7. There was no possibility of the mutual killing returning._**

**_Or so they thought._**

* * *

"Mama, Dad, I'm gonna miss you so much!" I say hugging both my mother and my father in turn. I try to refrain from crying as I pull away to see them smiling.

"We're so proud of you, Tsubasa." Dad says, his pale hair messy as always, "It's an honor to have a Super Duper High Schooler as a daughter."

"Come on dad! You and mom both were too!" I sniff wiping my eyes in spite of myself.

"Ts-Tsubasa... D-do your best! Don't let anyone push y-you around." Mama smiles weakly her grey-purple eyes, so much like my own, shining. Mama's not always so sure of herself, but I really love her and dad.

"You too! I have to go now, but I'll write you guys at least once a week!" I sort of laugh internally. Both my parents and I know I can't uphold the promise.

"Just remember that we love you." My dad says. I give them one last fleeting look before I run to hop on the bus. It's a coach bus, and there's a bathroom in the back and everything. On this bus are the fifteen others that be going to an intensive study program for the worlds talented youth. I honestly can't believe I made the cut, seeing as my Manga isn't all that well known. But I really shouldn't complain.

I make my way towards the back of the bus. Most everyone is in the front, some sleeping, or else reading or playing games on their iPods. I slide into a seat right in the back and reach into my messenger bag for my sketch pad and a pencil.

And that's when my head hits the seat.

* * *

"Hey! Hey! Rise and shine! Up! Up! Lets go sleepyhead! Smell the flowers!" A cheery voice sounds. Someone's gently shaking my arm. I groan and open my eyes to a blur of white and gray, "Come on! You can't just lay there all day! You'll catch your death of cold in this weather!" I blink and twist my head in the direction of the voice to see a pretty girl with dark yellow eyes and long brown hair tied up in a yellow scrunchie along with her left bang. She wears a furry brown coat and a pair of yellow mittens. The coat is big on her and looks borrowed. Under the coat I catch a glimpse of what looks like a yellow cheer uniform with 'Sunshine Angels' printed on it in white.

"Huh?" I mumble, feeling a cold numbness in my fingers and the back of my neck where my long white hair doesn't cover. I glance down to see snow under me. Wait, snow? But it was only the end of Summer when we left on the bus. And speaking of busses, what the hell happened to the bus and how'd I get here?

"Yay! You're finally awake! Come on, you need to get inside and have a nice hot cup of cocoa." The girl says, grabbing me under my arms and pulling me to my feet, "Upsie daisy!" I struggle to place my rain boot clad feet. I'm just glad I didn't get a lot of snow in them. Now that I'm more or less conscious, I start to feel the cold. The thin, charcoal gray hoodie Im in isn't enough, and even with my wrist warmers and hand knit beanie, I'm still freezing. At least Im wearing leggings and not just the cool gray pleated skirt that I have hiked up to a few inches above my mid thigh.

"Hey, um... Who are you?" I ask, bushing snow off my backside, "And where are we?" The area around us is all snow. We seem to be in a sort of village area. There are little cabins all up and down a gravel road I was previously laying next to.

"I'm Summer Greenswood, the Super Duper High School Level Cheerleader! As for the second question..." She frowns slightly, "Well... We're all trying to figure that out. So who are you, stranger?" Her enthusiasm returns and she smiles again.

**SUMMER GREENSWOOD**

**SDHSL CHEERLEADER**

"Uh... Tsubasa Komaeda. Manga Artist." I say, "Good to meet you."

**TSUBASA KOMAEDA**

**SDHSL MANGA ARTIST**

"Same! Hey! I've read your Manga 'Magical Usagi'. I really liked Aya." She winks at me. Aya was a minor character in my debut manga. But she was a cheerleader, so I can kinda see why Summer likes her.

"Th-thanks." I say, rubbing my arms to try and warm myself up.

"Oh! We have to go and get you inside! Come on, let's hurry!" Summer begins to walk at a brisk pace down the road and I try to match her, though my legs are shorter. I suppose it's good. Mom says that you need to get your blood flowing when you're cold, and moving around is the best way to do so.

We fallow the road until we reach a huge log building of similar design to the cabins, except more elaborate. There's a sign over the door that reads 'lodge'. Outside, three, what I assume are students, mill around drinking hot beverages and chatting. Summer waves to them.

"Hey guys!" She calls, "I found the last one! Everyone, this is Tsubasa Komaeda. She's a manga artist."

"Yo!" says a tall boy with spiky blue hair in a blue and white skiing outfit and snowboarding boots. He has a carefree smile on his face, "The name's Jack Hunters. Super Duper High School Snowboarder. Pleasure to meet you."

**JACK HUNTERS**

**SDHSL SNOWBOARDER**

"Im Hanako Saito. Luckster." Says a tall, freckled girl with short blond hair and blue eyes. She wears a black jacket over a flannel shirt and baggy jeans. She smiles to reveal a mouth full of braces, though the suit her somehow, "Man, it's exciting to be accepted to an intensive study program like this! I wonder what I can try to specialize in?"**  
**

**HANAKO SAITO**

**SDHSL LUCKSTER**

"Naru Sarasha." Says a boy with black hair after a short pause. His bangs spread out over his forehead and he has blue eyes. He wears a monochrome jacket, slightly ripped jeans and black fingerless gloves. He wears a necklace with an onix pendant, a silver bracelet and a pair of black head phones hand around his neck, "Doctor." His look is cold, almost as the outside air. It kinda surprises me, but I guess he's more like one of those 'no nonsense' doctors. I guess it's only surprising because I spend a lot of time with my mom at her work, and most of the doctors at the hospital she works at are pretty lax when not working.

**NARU SARASHA**

**SDHSL DOCTOR**

"Here, I'll take you inside." Says Saito, "I'm getting pretty cold myself. See you all later!" She gestures for me to fallow her.

The lodge is warm inside and eleven others mill around the area. The walls are dark wood panels and on the floor a deep red carpet. There appears to be a small restaurant/snack bar as well as several tables. There's an area with cubbies and ski/snow boarding equipment. Over on the far side is a large fire place with several nice couches around it.

"Hey guys!" Saito says cheerfully, "We've located the last one!" She calls out to the room. Three girls walk up to us, a girl with mint green hair tied up in a bun with a red bow leading. She wears color contacts, one pink one green and wears a bright pink sundress and a teddy bear back pack. She's dressed unseasonably, though on her feet are a pair of fuzzy brown boots. A leather jacket, probably borrowed hangs around her shoulders. She holds a cup of hot chocolate in her hands.

"Hey!" she says, "I'm Yuni Suukoi! You might know me on the Internet as SillyYuni."

**SDHSL YOUTUBER**

**YUNI SUUKOI**

"Oh! I love your videos!" I smile. Yuni's videos are viral on the web. She's up there, alright. She does a bit of everything, a real jack of all trades. She even does drawing tutorials, and let me tell you, those can be a real help at times. "I'm Tsubasa Komaeda. Manga Artist."

"Nice! I'm Maika Fumiko, and I'm a guitarist! I hope we can be great friends. Oh, was I being pushy? Sorry, I just got excited. Hehe..." A girl with dark brown hair in a high pony tail, scratches the back of her head. Hope...? Her bangs fall down to her eyes and she has a Monroe piercing as well as two piercings in each ear. She wears a sailor uniform, with a black base. The accents are in light blue as well as the bow. She wears black tights on her legs and white tennis shoes. Fumiko's a very famous guitarist from the band Light Cloudmen. They're wildly popular, even in the chaos that this world is in.

**MAIKA FUMIKO**

**SDHSL GUITARIST**

"I'm Abigail Manchester." Next to speak is a girl with an English accent. She has long raven black hair in a lose plait down to her waist. Her eyes are light blue and she wears a maroon colored full sleeve blouse with ruffles on the sleeves and collar and a black and maroon harlequin ruffled skirt. She also has on a black waistcoat, black knee high stockings and a pair of black boots. She carries with her a small black satchel which she reaches into, "Will you hold still? I need to practice!" She whips out three throwing knives and I flinch.

"Woah! Abby, calm down." Saito's eyes widen.

"Just kidding!" Abigail laughs as if this were all a big joke. I laugh a little too. It was kinda funny if you think about it.

**ABIGAIL MANCHESTER**

**SDHSL KNIFE THROWER**

"That's not something you kid about!" Saito says nevrously.

"Yes it is." Suukoi laughs, and hands the jacket she's been wearing to Fumiko, "Thanks a lot by the way, but I'm warm now."

"Hey hey!" A short girl in a purple cat ears hoodie, a pair of browns shorts and blue and yellow sneakers comes up to us. She has short lavender hair and blue eyes. Her voic is soft and she carries with her a light blue bunny plush. I wonder how old she is?

"Hey Kousuke-chan!" Suukoi says, "Have you met Komaeda-san yet?"

"Eeehh?" She looks around wildly, eyes going right past me, a look of slight fear on her face, "He's HERE?" I can't say this isn't the first time something like this has happened.

"No, she! You know, Tsubasa Komaeda? The creator of 'Magical Usagi'?" Suukoi laughs, "Who were you thinking of?"

"Oh!" the girl's eyes widen, "I thought you meant Nagito Komaeda. I'm sorry I confused you with someone like him." She gives a small bow. 'Someone like him'. It stings a bit, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Not many people think to highly of him. "I'm Rena Kousuke. Good to meet you."

**RENA KOUSUKE**

**SHSL MEDIUM**

"Good to meet you too." I say. She's a child prodigy, unless I'm much mistaken. Eleven years old and already in high school with the ability to reach our dearly departed. Very well known all over the world, and very popular due other childish appearance. She has assisted in several police investigations and helped to find the true culprit in said cases. Truly a symbol of hope for all! At least, that's what my old man would say.

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Authors notes: YAY! I finished it before 2015! Sorry that not all of the characters showed up yet, but... Yeah. So, hope you guys enjoyed, if so, please review, it helps out SO MUCH.

characterz:

**Female**

**Tsubasa Komaeda- SDHSL Manga Artist (me)**

**Hanako Saito- SDHSL ****Good Luck**** (me)**

**Maika Fumiko- SDHSL Guitarist (Makoto Naegi)**

**Yuni Suukoi- SDHSL Youtuber (LadyGlitchy)**

**Rie Satoya- SDHSL Pixel Artist (SHSL slacker)**

**Summer Greenswood- SDHSL cheerleader (carrotgirlhatty)**

**Rena Kousuke- SDHSL medium (ichiru-chan)**

**Abigail Manchester- SDHSL knife thrower (MewHoney)**

* * *

**male**

**Naru Sarasha- SDHSL doctor (shadowplayer360)**

**Jack Hunters- SDHSL snowboarder (Jin-Rimu)**

**Jin Rimuzaki- SDHSL Poet (Jin-Rimu)**

**Tsumoto Honda- SDHSL Public Speaker (UberDuper)**

**Fin Smith- SDHSL blacksmith (Jelly Rice Doughnuts)**

**Haruki Kurosawa- SDHSL temple runner (Sandy Naegi)**

**Jean Kistner- SDHSL story composer (jelly Rice Doughnuts)**

**Mattais Sharp- SDHSL paramedic (a guest user who didn't provide a name)**


	2. Chapter 2

(AN: SORRY this has taken so long, I've just been really busy and, well intro chapters are difficult. You can expect things to speed up. A little. I hope you enjoy, please review, and have a great day!)

I go over to one of the couches where two boys were sitting. One of them has medium length black hair wich keeps falling in his eyes. He wears a brown leather jacket over a grey T shirt and tan kahki pants. He has a necklace with a red delta pendant around his neck. He's almost at the other boy who's completely absorbed in a game on his iPod. The other boy has short spiky black hair and large plastic hipster frames. He's dressed in distressed jeans and a black T shirt.

"-and if you had any sense, you'd take up something useful and stop wasting time on something so unimportant." Says Delta Necklace. iPod boy shrugs, still focused on the game.

"... Ah... But it _is_ my talent." Says Frames, "I've won competitions... And I'm, er, uh, beating my highscore... Damnit! I fell off the side again!"

"Then put the damn game down and listen!" Delta Necklace makes a grab for the iPod, but Frames pulls it out of the way.

"Hey, um, what's going on?" I ask.

"... Uh... Honda-kun doesn't think my talent is real." Says Frames.

"Because playing temple run is something anyone with hands can do!" Honda sighs. Honda?

"Wait... 'Honda-kun'?" Suddenly I recognize his face. He's that public speaker known well for spreading hope to all. Amazing! It's so cool to see him in the flesh! "Are you Tsumoto Honda?"

"Yep. And who are you?" He raises an eyebrow.

**TSUMOTO HONDA**

**SHSL PUBLIC SPEAKER**

"Tsubasa Komaeda. Manga artist. It's nice to meet you!" I say.

"I'm Haruki Kurosawa. I... Ah... Play temple run. Like, really well." says Frames.

**HARUKI KUROSAWA**

**SHSL TEMPLE RUNNER**

"That's an interesting talent." I say.

"And a useless one." Adds Honda, "Whatever. I'm done." He gets up and leaves. Kurosawa shrugs and goes back to playing his game. I don't think he wants to talk. I shouldn't bother him.

"Don't take me lightly. Just because I cannot play your game doesn't mean I can't use a sword." Two other boys are standing by an arcade machine. One of them is albino and has their hair cut short. He wears a turtle neck and khakis under a black apron. The other has blond hair in a buzz cut and carries a medical pack. He wears a paramedics uniform.

"Calm down, Fin, it's just a game." He says, "... Real swords are dangerous and not welcome in a school environment."

"So this is why you play a time wasting game? Hmm, interesting. Perhaps I shall play this game with you again. And I will admit, it was rather amusing, even though I lost. However," The albino boy smiles, "I will not lose to you when it comes to the creation of a blade."

"Heh. Is that a challenge?"

"After we find out what's going on, we shall have another contest of skill. I assure you, I will not lose."

"Even if all we can use is card board and duct tape?"

"All the better. Cardboard is the simplest form on construction, other than paper. You there!" He points at me.

"Eh?" I nearly jump.

"Don't act all started now, girl. You cannot expect to evesdrop without being caught. You shall be the judge of our contest of skill, yes?"

"I-Im sorry. I-I just came to learn name so..." I start.

"Don't act like I just hit you. Are you a woman or not? Grow a backbone!"

"I'm sorry."

"Good lord, you're one of those. Stop appologizing for everything. Who are you?"

"My name is Tsubasa Komaeda. I am a Manga artist." I say meekly.

"The name's Fin Smith. SHSL Black Smith. The schmo with the medical pack is Mattias Sharp. He's the Paramedic, in case you cant tell."

**FIN SMITH**

**SHSL BLACK SMITH**

**MATTIAS SHARP**

**SHSL PARAMEDIC**

"Pleasure to meet you." Says Mattias, as we shake hands.

"S-same. To both of you."

"You remind me someone... Tsumiki-san. Mikan Tsumiki-san. She's a nurse in a hospital outside of Towa city. That's around where you live, right?" He asks.

"I-I do live outside of Towa, how did you know?" I ask.

"In a magazine. Jump, I think it was. There was an article about your manga, Magical Usagi. It briefly mentioned that you live near Towa city, where the manga is set. And Towa is an island so there are only a few towns and cities could be considered near Towa."

"Wow. You remembered that? You're good. I didn't think anyone would care that much."

"So, about Tsumiki-san... When I was studying abroad, we met and her speech patterns are similar to yours when you get nervous, such as when Fin started using a harsher tone of voice. Your voice is of a similar pitch and your eyes are near the exact same color and shape. Are you two related?"

"Y-yes. She's my mother." I say. How he rememberd all that is amazing to me. And a little bit spooky, but I really shouldn't be judging. Maybe he just has a good memory.

"Knew it. Anyway, are you gonna judge our weaponry design contest? After this whole thing is over, meet us at the **camping store**, ok?"

"Wait a second, I never agreed to tha-" but they're already walking off to speak with Abigail. She's showing them her throwing knives. Mattias says something about 'not welcome in a school enviornment' as Fin examines them, obviously impressed. Well, it looks like I'm judging a card board sword design contest. Abigail would be a better judge than me. I'm no weapons expert.

Only three are left. There's a boy dressed in a fuzzy navy sweater with a cyan blue T shirt over it and Pajama pants. He wears fuzzy beige boots too. He has a note pad in hand and he sits with another boy and a girl. The second boy has longish black hair and purple eyes. He wears a white, long sleeved polo shirt, a black tie and black jeans. He looks a little tired and has a bit of a scowl on his face. Last is the girl. She has shoulder length flyaway auburn hair that rivals mine in messiness. I can't see her eyes through her bangs. She wears a white leather jacket, a white dress shirt and a black skirt that has gold lining. She has a touch screen tablet with her and seems to be drawing something on it.

"Hey." The girl says, waving as I approach. Her voice is soft and pleasnt. How she can see me through her hair is a wonder, "You're Tusbasa Komaeda, right? I'm Rie Satoya. The pixel artist. Let's be friends?"

**RIE SATOYA**

**SHSL PIXEL ARTIST**

"Sure! I look foreward to studying with you." I say.

"You guys should introduce yourselves too." She looks over at the boys, who are speaking in quiet tones to eachother.

"Eh? What? Oh. The names' Jin Rimuzaki, poet." Says the one with black hair.

**JIN RIMUZAKI**

**SHSL POET**

"Ah. It's good to meet you. Any you are?" I ask the boy sitting next to him. The boy looks up at me, though he remains silent.

"... Jean Kistner. I am a story composer, not a writer, before you ask." He has a heavy German accent, and it seems as though he chose each word carefully before he spoke it.

**JEAN KISTNER**

**SHSL POET**

"I-I see." I say. I think that's eveyone. The really strange thing though, is the lack of teachers, or any supervisors for that matter. Or maybe this is just some crazy prank. At least, that's what Hagakure-san would say. But then again... He isn't the most reliable person in the world. Never the less, it's kinda weird.

_Why won't you forgive me?!_

I snap my head around and nearly crack my neck. Why? Why am I remembering this now?

_You'd forgive anyone else! Why not me?!_

"Upupupu!" A voice comes on over a loud speaker, "Hey you bastards! Meet in the **village square** in five minutes, or face **penalty**!"

"P-penalty?" Jack speaks up from beside a hot cocoa machine. Without warning a dart goes flying at him. Kosuke cries out and covers her face with her bunny, "AAAGH! Sweet Odin, WHY ME?" Jack cries as the dart hits him in the crotch. It's kinda sad but also hillarious. I shouldn't be laughing at other people's pain... Especially in this kind of situation...

"Like that only worse! Now get your asses in gear and go!" The voice says, "I don't got all day!"

All we can do is stare. No one really seems to understand, and Im not sure I do either. All I know is that there won't be much intensive studying going on. From the moment of that laugh... I know now. We can't defy **it**.

"Ve should get going." Jean speaks up, "Vatever zat zing is, it vould be best to comply for now."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Fumiko looks around nervously, "It might be trying to kill us or something..."

"It'll kill us if we keep standing around here, Fumiko-sama." Honda says. Again with formal honorifics. It's like he's mocking us or something.

"I would have to agree. Let's go." Sarasha says from near the door.

"Can somebody please help?" Jack calls from the ground, "A pretty lady perhaps?"

"You'll be fine on your own." Sarasha sighs, "Please stop acting like an idiot."

"We should get going then..." Says Summer. We make our way our of the lodge. Summer leads. She probably knows where the village square is. It's still snowing, and getting pretty bad. We're surrounded by mountains and odd rustic looking buildings. We fallow the path back towards the cabins. The cabins seem to form a sort of plus sign formation around a circular cobblestone area with a fire pit as the central point. The area seems to be cleared of snow and the fire is blazing.

"Five more seconds and you'd all be dead! Upupupu!" The voice laughs. We all look around wildly for the source, "Yo! Over here!" The fire suddenly blazes higher and we watch in shock as a black and white bear catapults out of the fire. It does a flip and lands perfectly infront of us. I doubt anyone wouldn't recognise that face.

"W-what the hell?!" Fin shouts, "What kind of sick joke is this?"

"A monokuma? Here?!" Fumiko's eyes are wide.

"We should kill it. Manchester, you can take care of this, yes?" Honda glares at the robot.

"Upupu! You know what happened to Mukuro Ikusaba-san?" Monokuma laughs.

"She's the one who got stabbed with those spear things," Saito answers, "Right?"

"Wow! Look who's been studying her history! Upupu! Maybe you won't be nearly as pathetic as the past few lucksters! Maybe you can explain to the class what's gonna happen next?"

"No." Jean suddenly spoke up, "Ve vill not allow zis to happen again."

"Famous last words!" Monokuma says, "Anyway, wether you want to or not, you will play my game. Even if I have to kill you all myself. Anyway, I sure hope you enjoy the rest of your lives here, because belive me, you will not leave this pace alive."

"You were beat twice, we'll beat you again!" Honda shouts, "Despair is weak. Resorting to the same cheap tactics over and over."

"Save the speeches for later, no one wants to hear them anymore." Monokuma growls, "Go back to your cabins. You should all find some... Interesting items there. You will know what needs to be done. Upupu... Upupupu... UPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPUPU! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

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**Yay. Finaly done. Please review if you liked, any feedback is good. I will try to update more frequently. Thank you so much.**


	3. Chapter 3

"Who the hell leaves this kind of thing laying around?" There's a box cutter and a survival knife laying on the desk of my cabin, along with what must be an electroiD and a tan envelope. Does that bear want us to kill eachother with this? That's... Kinda brutal... I guess we all already know the rules. This has happened, twice even. This... Thing. It started during the malification and it honestly almost worked. I look down at the box cutter. Mom and dad didn't like to talk about it, they never did. Well, my dad tried to tell a little, but mom never liked it. I suppose it was shame. She said she did a lot of disgraceful things, and I swore I'd never tell.

Never. I never told anyone. She knows that, but still.

_Why are you angry at me? Why can't you forgive me? _

I take the box cutter with a shaking hand and examine the blade. It hasn't been used. Completely clean. I retract the blade and put it to the side. The survival knife joins it, I don't want to have to look at them. Maybe I can get rid of them somehow. I put the electroiD in my pocket. I'll probably need it later.

The contents of the evelope is probably a motive. From what I know about the previous games, at least. And... If stuff from the past holds true for the future, maybe we've already been here a long time. I shouldn't look. I glance around the room. There's a fireplace on the back wall. Maybe I can just burn it. That way I won't have to look at it, and I won't have the motive to kill.

But what if someone else uses it to kill? I should know what it is then, right?

No, someone else will probably also know... Not eveyone gets tricked by the motives.

Or what if it's not a motive at all? What if it's a trick to get us to try and get rid of it when it's really a clue?

Or maybe I'm over thinking things. It wouldn't hurt to peek, right? If it's a picture of mom and dad, ok. It's all mind over matter. They can take care of themselves, and if they were in danger they wouldn't want me coming after them. If it's my friends, well... I don't have a lot of those, but they are alright and probably safe. I can look. No one would get fooled by something like that.

I peal it open and pull out the contents. It's two printed out pictures. One of two nameless people, their eyes gouged out, hair shaved, with lacerations all over their bodies. The other is of a single person, a girl, nude, and with deep cuts through out her body. Her head is barely attached and her eyes have been sewn shut. I want to puke. I can handle blood, but nothing as graphic as this. I quickly crumple up the papers and toss them in the fire. I'm gonna have so much throug le getting that imagery out of my head. Maybe I should go back to the lodge and have a cup of tea. Whoever left that here is a real nightmare fetishist. I don't even know what these mean. How would they be a motive?

I pull on a coat, one that was hanging on a peg by the door, and leave, locking the door behind me. I will be seeing those images in my nightmares. Or one of those horrifying, yet strangely erotic dreams I've been hav- I mean, nightmares. Yeah. Nightmares.

Its snowing still, and I try to find my way back to the lodge. With the appearance of Monokuma... It's just too much.

"Hey! Komaeda-san! What's up?" I turn at the sound of the voice. It's Mattias from earlier. He's with Fin and they are carrying cardboard and duct tape. Oh! I completely forgot about that. Crap, I can't be breaking promises...

"Hi guys! I'm sorry, I completely forgot."

"Hey, no worries, I almost did too." He says, "What with, well... No one could have expected that. We were debating wether we should just forget this, but, Fin figured it would be good to take our minds off things..."

"So it's no longer a competition." Fin says, "It was a childish idea to think that cardboard is a way of determining skill. Maybe you could join us? We're going to the lodge now, but I think you should get a chance to investigate before."

"Ah! Ok. I'll see you later then." Well, that was less stressful than our first meeting. I guess I should try to locate everything. I take out my electroiD. As I boot it up, it displays my name and picture. I open the map tab. It shows a fenced off enclosure, with the village in the center. At on point it opens up into the ski slopes, in the north. That's where the lodge is. There also seems to bee some sort of forest near there. Then, in the east the road leads to the camping store. Even our cabins are marked with our names. Mine's on the north arm.

I head to the camping store to find Saito and Suukoi hanging out by the counter. Suukoi is messing around with a red bandanna, wrapping, unwrapping and rewrapping a small box.

"It's like something out of a nightmare, really. Like, you'd have to have been living under a rock for the past two decades to NOT know about it..." Saito says, holding a melan flavored ramunè in shaking hands, "It's like... I don't even know. Like the sort of thing you expect to happen to someone else, or totally expect to happen to you the year they try something like Kibougamine again and it never happens... I'm not even making any sense anymore."

"Well... All we can do is just not do what Monokuma wants." Suukoi says, "Like, we know what happened. The same thing won't work three times!"

"What if they did some weird Enoshima robot this time?" Saito says, "Because I did a lot of reading on this back in middle school."

"I thought it was mandatory that eveyone learns about the killings."

"Yeah, well... I guess it just kinda interested me, especially after hearing some of the survivors speak. Well... Some of them came to our school for an assembly. Three who took part in the new world program, Hinata-san, Koizumi-san, and Souda-san. And then after hearing them talk, well... I went to a really small school. It was a wonder we got to even see them speak. We got to shake hands with them. It was really inspiring to hear about their lives."

"That's so cool!" Suukoi puts down the box, "It's kinda like how people learn everything there is to know about World War II. Have you ever considered being a historian?"

"That's sorta it... I was hoping to learn a lot more about it when I got my letter. But then..." She trails off and grimaces.

"I know... We'll figure out a way to escape. All of us. This won't be like the other times. Here." She takes the bandana and ties it in Saito's ponytail, "I know it's not much, but sometimes little things like this make you feel better."

"Thanks, I'm glad you guys have accepted me like this, me just being the luckster and all... Like... I was scared everyone here would be a pretentious asshole and hate me."

"At least you're not trying to kill everyone with a bomb." I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

"Hey, um, actually I kinda wanted to talk to you about those pictures." Saito's tone suddenly gets darker, fearful, "Did you see them?"

"No. I burned the envelope as soon as I could. I knew it would be something awful, knowing a monster like the SHSL despair." Suukoi says, "So... What were they?"

"It's best you don't know." Saito sighs, "It was just... Messed up. I shouldn't have looked."

"Let's get out of here, maybe we can get some hot chocolate or something." Suukoi says brightly, taking a bar of chocolate from the counter and a half finished bottle of strawberry ramunè. The counter is on the oposite side of the store, and I'm not sure they noticed me walk in.

"Oh! Hi, Komaeda-chan!" Saito says as she and Suukoi exit. I smile back, and start my search of the area. There's just about everything here. Tents, portable grills, mallets, fire starters, there's even a section of snacks and drinks, as well as this thing called a 'Monoyono' machine. Like a vending machine, or gacha. I dig in my pockets for some change. May as well try it out. Instead I find several tokens with Monokuma's face on them. Monokuma coins. I put one in, and out drops a plastic container. I open it to find a pristine model of the protagonist of 'Hetetical Angel ⭐️ Super Squishy Princess'. So cool! I wonder if there's anyone else here who would like this. Probably not, it's such an old anime...

I try again several times, keeping a few coins for later, just in case I need them. I get a book on video game design, a pignose amplifier (no idea how they fit that in the container... It defys the laws of... Something, probably physics), a pouch of fine tea leaves and weird brown globe thing that kinda looks like a turd. Maybe I should get rid of that last one before people start thinking things...

There isn't much else here, mainly camping and hunting supplies. I should check out the forest and then meet Fin and Mattias.

When I arrive I see none other than Monokuma blocking my path.

"Oho! What's this? Where are you sneaking off to, Mini-me?" Monokuma laughs.

"'Mini-me'?" Is that my new nickname or something?

"I just wanna know why you're going into the woods! You know there are big scary bears waiting to eat you! Upupu!"

"I was just curious..." I mumble.

"You know what they say. Curiosity killed the human!"

"It's cat. Curiosity killed the cat."

"Cat, human, same thing! Now scram!" He pushes me away, surprisingly strong for a robotic bear.

"Ok! Ok! I'm leaving." I say holding my hands up in defeat, "Bye." I break into a run towards the lodge.

_Forgive me! _

Stop this.

_Why? Tell me! What have I done wrong?_

Nothing. You never did anything wrong, I swear.

* * *

**YAY! I finaly managed to get back to a good schedule! Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon! Make sure to review if you can, and vote on who u want free time events to be with! Thanks! :)**


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